Three Seats Remain–Who Gets Them?
This past Monday, we got confirmation that another seat on the fulltime IndyCar grid has been filled. Devlin DeFrancesco will pilot the No. 30 entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) for the entire 2025 season. This is the car that Pietro Fittipaldi drove this past season in a mostly anonymous and forgettable campaign. It is also the car that Jack Harvey left Meyer Shank Racing for at the end of the 2021 season. If you want to go even further back – it is the same car number or team that won the 2020 Indianapolis 500 with Takuma Sato behind the wheel. That seems like a lifetime ago.
Of the four remaining fulltime seats, this was arguably the most attractive. The last three remaining are the two seats at Coyne and the No. 77 at Juncos Hollinger Racing. Many seem to think that Romain Grosjean has the inside track, but I still think Conor Daly will end up there. I guess it’s whoever can come up with the required budget the quickest.
Sting Ray Robb and DeFrancesco were the two remaining drivers that had access to a load of cash. Daly and Grosjean are both reportedly putting some budget together, but they aren’t automatically sitting on a mountain of cash like the other two. Personally, I wouldn’t mid seeing Grosjean return to Coyne. I know he would not have engineer Olivier Boisson with him this time around, but I though Coyne and Grosjean were a good pair. I understand Benjamin Pedersen is still hoping to return to IndyCar. He is reportedly still linked to significant budget. Perhaps he could sign for the other seat with Coyne to also cover Grosjean’s costs.
Pedersen to Coyne would certainly be no worse than DeFrancesco to RLLR. I have never hidden the fact that I think DeFrancesco is highly under-qualified to be racing in IndyCar. He was average at best in Indy Lights in 2021. He finished sixth, but did not win a race, although he did score two podiums (both thirds). In two IndyCar seasons with Andretti in 2022-23, he finished no higher than twelfth. In thirty-four IndyCar starts, he finished seventeenth or lower twenty-six times. That’s good enough to earn you twenty-third and twenty-second in points over two seasons.
When Andretti downsized from four cars to three for the 2024 season, DeFrancesco was the one standing without a chair. He sat out the 2024 season. I can’t help but think that was because he tore up a lot of equipment in those two seasons, with a lot of them of his own doing. Sometimes he caused crashes that he himself would somehow avoid. All in all, I just don’t think he is a very good driver – not in IndyCar, anyway. He has fared better in IMSA, winning the Rolex 24 in 2022, along with teammates Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta and Eric Lux.
Sting Ray Robb has received a disproportionate amount of criticism for “buying” his way into IndyCar rides, But I strongly believe Robb is far more qualified to be in a car than DeFrancesco. Plus, at least Robb is hustling to raise his money, no matter how questionable his funding sources are. DeFrancesco just has to ask his father to write a check.
I feel sorry for Graham Rahal. He is in the twilight of his career. Although he has directly had a hand in hiring the personnel that gave him some bun cars over the last couple of years, he is a better driver than his recent record reflects. He now gets to spend this season shepherding Devlin DeFrancesco and rookie Louis Foster. As good as Foster was in winning the Indy NXT title this past season, he will still be a rookie and will experience the expected growing pains that every rookie goes through.
Who will fill those last three seats? I’ve given you my precdiction of Conor Daly to Juncos and Romain Grosjean to Coyne. Although it makes financial sense, I seriously doubt that Coyne will sign Benjamin Pedersen. Some say we haven’t seen the last of Pietro Fittipaldi, while others insist that Enzo Fittipaldi will be in the mix at the end. It’ll be fun watching the mad scramble for the final three seats. One thing is certain, there are a lot more available drivers than open seats.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
December 13, 2024 at 4:32 am
Rinus, Linus… as you say more available quality drivers than seats. In my mind teams need to source the budget to hire drivers rather than waiting for rich kids to turn up and drive. I know that has happened for many years but it saddens me as I want to see spectacular driving and racing. In my mind we have three drivers who should not be racing with three seats still to fill. For me it’s all about FOX bringing the eyeballs to a quality product and then the money will follow enabling teams to source sponsors.
December 13, 2024 at 5:36 am
George, Can you expand on what you mean by “questionable” sources of income by Sting Ray Robb? I hope you don’t mean they come from an entity with a Christian background?
December 13, 2024 at 6:08 am
That’s not what I mean at all. Some comments I’ve seen, on this site and elsewhere, have hinted that the sourcing may have roots beyond Pray.com. Many times we have seen sponsorships that draw their money from mysterious and sometimes not-above-board means. The problem with that is not so much the perception of the source, but that sometimes these sources dry up without any notice. I’m not saying that is the case with Robb. I consider myself a Christian and I have no problem with faith-based organizations putting their money into auto racing. Although I’ve never ben a smoker, I had no problem with tobacco money in racing. But I’ve read enough people bringing Robb’s funding into question, that I thought it was worth mentioning. I don’t think they were slamming religion when they were mentioning it. At least, I didn’t interpret it that way. – GP
December 13, 2024 at 6:11 am
Thank you, George, I appreciate the clarification!
December 13, 2024 at 7:03 am
While I don’t want to wander beyond the bounds of what should be discussed on this site, I would argue that there is definite anti-religious sentiment behind at least some of the criticism of Robb in general, and his funding sources in particular. If there were not, then so many online discussions about Robb wouldn’t turn into discussions about the tax-exempt status of churches (regardless of the fact that Pray.com, the only openly religious sponsor Robb has ever had on one of his cars, is a taxed for-profit company). The idea that Robb is passing an offering plate through church pews (literally or figuratively) to fund his career as if it is a ministry is definitely present in these discussions despite no real evidence that this is the case.
December 13, 2024 at 7:15 am
I will say the “investment” opportunity that I believe was presented for Sting Ray Robb earlier this year was rather ambiguous. I tried to download their investor deck but never had any success. The “perks” you get for becoming an investor are in now way aligned with the funding requested. I thought it would be similar to the fractional ownership program that myracehorse.com offers but that wasn’t the case. It would be interesting to see if drivers, like a Conor Daly, ever look into fractional ownership. It would be a great way, at a low cost, to have some skin in the game and provide him with an easy funding source.
December 15, 2024 at 12:52 pm
It’ll be interesting to find out who gets those 3 seats eventually.
Rinus v. K. tested with Coyne and delivered what the team wanted. So he should be in the running. Toby Sowery did the same. The new charter system allows teams only have a maximum of 3 different drivers per car per season, if I recall correctly. Coyne might want to max out this, given his track record.
For the Juncos seat, it is likely that the team aims to sign one driver for the whole season. Grosjean and Daly are reportedly in the running, having driven for the team this year.
It is odd to see Linus Lundqvist out of a ride so far but that’s the implications of the charter system.